Despite ceasefire agreements signed with the two Shan State Army
(SSA) factions, forced labor appeared to have increased in 2012 in rural
Shan State after the Burmese army, taking advantage of the truce,
brought in more troops to take up new positions, reported Shan Human
Rights Foundation (SHRF) in its December issue.

The report describes conscription of villagers as guides and porters,
carrying equipment and fetching water to the Burma Army’s hill
outposts. In addition, they had to provide chickens, all free of charge,
to the bases, as in Nam Zarng.

As the Burma Army pushed further outside urban areas, confrontations
became unavoidable despite ceasefire agreements, and the villagers
acting as guides and porters were inevitably caught up in the
crossfires.

Ethnic Shan from Burma work on a construction site in Chiang Mai (Photo: John Hulme)

One of the families that arrived on the Thai border explained that
they had a very difficult life. When they had to go as porters, there
was no one left to feed their families, especially when they had to go
for many days. “I am the head of my family and the only adult man who
needs to work to support the whole family,” a villager from Langkher
told SHRF. “When I had to frequently go away to serve the military,
sometimes as long as 10 days at a time, the rest of my family, who are
only women, children and elderly, hardly had anything to eat.”

According to an aid worker, more than 1,000 people had crossed the
border into Fang district, Chiangmai province, during the July-November
2012 period. “If you add up those that have not passed through our aid
station, it’ll be at least 5 times that figure,” he said. “And few of
them are going back.”

Deputy Labor Minister U Myint Thein signed an MoU with International
Labor Organization (ILO) in Naypyitaw in 16 March 2012 to end forced
labor by 2015, according to New Light of Myanmar.

There are now an estimated 1 million registered foreign workers and
1.5 million or more unregistered migrant workers in Thailand with 75% +
likely from Burma, 20% from Cambodia and 5% from Laos and other
countries, according to Andy Hall, Institute for Population and Social
Research (IPSR), Mahidol University.